MISSUK’S SNOW GEESE

In this gentle far North tale, a father departs by dog sled to hunt caribou. His young daughter busies herself at home, sewing a sealskin mitten like her mother. More passionately, emulating her father, she tries to carve a snow goose of soapstone, using her own ulu knife. Failing to “find the graceful bird in the stone,” Missuk leaves the igloo for the snowy landscape, where there is a hint of spring. As the returning snow geese fly above, Missuk—for hours—makes bird imprints in the snow with her bundled body. (Readers will correlate these with “snow angels.”) Safely home and abed as a storm blows in, Missuk dream-worries about her father. Families will relish this simple telling’s child-empowering ending: The next day, father recounts how “a trail of goose shapes” led him home. Côté’s watercolor-wash and charcoal pictures warmly illuminate the family’s emotional connection against a harshly beautiful landscape that teems with wildlife. Employing her signature stylized white faces, she adds ochre-washed cheeks to telegraph the First Nations family’s ethnicity. (Picture book. 3-6)